By Jorge Casuso

September 26, 2024 -- Property owners can once again include a gas stove or furnace in a new Santa Monica building, but they must offset it with a long list of energy efficient items to get a building permit.

The City Council on Tuesday replaced a building code requiring nearly all new buildings to be fully electric with a set of "evaluation metrics" that allow for the limited use of fuel.

The move to replace Santa Monica's highly touted Zero Emissions Code comes after a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that a similar building code in Berkeley was pre-empted by Federal law.

After Berkeley's appeal was denied, most of the 60 jurisdictions that applied similar codes, including Santa Monica, were required to halt enforcement.

On Tuesday, the Council followed suit by adopting an alternative Energy Performance Approach added to the California Energy Code in 2022.

Unlike the Zero Emissions Code it replaces -- which only exempts commercial kitchens, medical facilities and labs -- the new approach
allows "mixed-fuel building designs that include additional energy efficiency and/or solar PV and battery storage measures."

The approach applies "an increased source energy margin requirement to all new buildings -– both electric and mixed-fuel designs," the Office of Sustainability & Environment wrote in a staff report to the Council.

"While the proposed approach is less effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions than the previous (code), the proposed Reach Code provides the best and most timely opportunity to continue pursuing Council’s adopted climate action goals," staff said.

Under the alternative approach, new buildings must meet the California code's "baseline efficiency and building performance standards" before receiving a building permit, according to staff.

To qualify, buildings in three categories -- Single-Family Residential, Multi-Family Residential and Non-Residential -- must meet energy rating scores, according to staff.

For example, "A new multi-family residential building must meet or exceed a standard that combines the value and cost of energy consumed at different times of the day and year (referred to as Time Dependent Valuation of energy, or TDV), and the emissions from the building’s energy source."

For single-family homes, a design that includes a natural gas furnace, "would likely include" high efficiency LED lighting, rooftop solar, an electric heat pump hot water heater, insulated walls, an insulated attic, and efficient windows, "among other things."

"the designer would load the building design into a computer model and estimate its energy performance, which is common practice," staff said. "The energy modeling software would provide standard reporting metrics."

The Energy Performance Approach has been adopted by other California cities including San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Encinitas and Brisbane, according to staff.

“As a leadership sustainable city, Santa Monica is on the forefront of reducing negative environmental impacts while benefiting social and economic wellbeing,” said Chief Sustainability Officer Shannon Parry.

The amendments to the building code approved by the Council will go into effect on October 24.